It’s been six months since the great Game Pass price hike of late 2025. The one that saw Ultimate leap to a staggering $29.99 a month. For me, and a vocal contingent of the Xbox faithful, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I wrote back in October about how the service had finally stopped delivering the value I personally needed.
At the time, Microsoft’s justification for that 50% jump was the "enhanced value" we were getting. More day-one games, upgraded Cloud Gaming (now officially out of beta at 1440p), and "perks" like Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Classics. But let's be real, we all knew it was the Call of Duty Tax. Microsoft spent $69 billion to get Black Ops on the service, and they needed everyone, even the non-shooter fans, to help foot the bill.
